How I started writing songs

I began taking classical piano lessons at the age of six. As much as I loved classical music, something changed when I reached high school. I became fascinated by pop music and wanted to play and sing my favourite songs without spending hours searching for sheet music.

The easiest solution was to teach myself chords. Once I understood how chords worked, I could pick up almost any piece of sheet music, read the chord symbols, and accompany myself on the piano. It opened up a whole new world of music.

Since sheet music wasn't exactly cheap, I also started figuring out many of my favourite songs by ear. Before long, I had built up a collection of sing-along songs that I could play and sing myself. After spending time playing both classical pieces and popular songs, I often found myself simply experimenting on the piano—playing random notes, trying different chord combinations, and seeing where the music would take me.

Whenever I stumbled upon something that sounded special, I would quickly grab my tape recorder (this was long before smartphones existed!) and record the idea before it disappeared.. Most of my songs started with a simple piano melody. From there, I would take a pen and paper and begin writing lyrics that matched the mood and emotion I heard in the music.

Sometimes an entire song concept—complete with verses and a chorus—would come together in a single afternoon after school. Over the next few days, I would refine the lyrics, add additional verses, and polish the song until it felt complete.

One thing many of my early songs had in common was extremely long introductions before the vocals finally began. Looking back, I suppose I enjoyed telling part of the story through the music before the lyrics ever arrived.

Most of my songwriting has been centred around piano-based songs with vocals, although I have also written instrumental pieces and songs on guitar.

One example is "It Shows," one of the first songs I released with my virtual rock band, vital curv. The song was originally composed on an electric stage piano/keyboard, where I also created the string parts that helped shape its atmosphere.

In the video, I share a piece of the original home-recorded keyboard version, including the string intro that was later cut from the final release because the intro was already very long.

I originally wrote the song in D minor, but it was later transposed to C minor to better suit the lead vocalist's range.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Watch the released version here:https://youtu.be/xOBwAWjKp1g

You can also listen to the full vital curv EP album here:https://ditto.fm/vital-curv-ep